I need help getting a good filter. I just bought the marineland filter with the bio wheel which i heard is amazing, buuuuut it is way too strong. I tried the bottle trick and no deal. The filter is big and bulky. I want to return them but these are really good filters and of course i want the best for my babies. Any ideas, or other recommendations on what filter to get instead that is low power but can still hold the beneficial bacteria? thank you so much!!!

what size are your tanks? I would try a sponge filter, you can run several off of one air pump.

I have a 10 gal. I also have the tetra whisper for small gal. But will that do? Do I have to change the cartridge every 2 weeks like it says? It is a plain and simple air pump filter. The marine land filters are all high tech lol

Do you have a hood on your ten gallon? I have 2 biowheels with the baffle. I use the craft mesh as a lid though and get natural light to my tanks. I just re did the baffles so they are a bit slimmer from my first attempt. Still bulky but not as bad but, overall im happy with the results.

It just took a little time to size up the outtake and how much needed to be trimmed from center cut. And on the top side I cut 2 slits into the plastic so I could flatten it out a bit more.

Actually pretty easy to solve this. Just get some plumbers teflon tape. Remove the basket from the intake. Wrap plumbers telfon tape around the opening of the tube. So half on the tube and half over the hole. About 3 times around should do. This will reduce the size of the opening. Replace the basket and your done. I might make a short write up with pics on how to do this. Also I would toss out the filter cartridge it comes with and put a sponge in its place. You now have the filtering capacity of a sponge filter with the added biological filtration of your biowheel. Should you have to rinse your sponge out you will still have beneficial bacteria on the biowheel.

People like the aquaclear because of the flow adjustment. The problem I find with the aquaclear is you have to be on top of those filters. If the filter media gets a bit stuffed up it will just bypass the filter and flow into the tank. Most people do not notice this but essentially your filter is not running at peak when this happens. The water will just flow out of the filter instead of through the filter medium. Its been about 20 years since I've owned one not sure what they package for the filter media now days. Mine had a white sponge and then a few other things like carbon. I would just ditch the carbon and add more sponges.